🏠 Private life

How private life works (time and billing)

Private life runs on the real calendar. Your monthly costs do not leave the account on one single settlement day, though — they go on the days they would fall due in real life:

When	What
on the 1st	phone and internet, all subscriptions
on the 15th	broadcasting fee
on the last day of the month	rent or service charges, electricity, launderette, car and boat upkeep
every Monday	food and drink — one big weekly shop and one small top-up

• The weekly amount is calculated honestly: the monthly amount times 12/52. Not "divided by four" — that would cost you around 8 % more per year without anyone ever noticing.
• If you were away, it is caught up — but capped: at most three monthly dates and four weekly shops. So two months away does not mean two full months in one go.
• Phone and internet cost €55 once you have opened your private life. If you never touch it, you stay on the old €35 inside the collective item.
• The "🏠 My life" card shows your next four booking days below the items; every single item carries its own date next to it.

• Subscriptions cost money right away, pro rata: subscribe mid-month and the period up to the next billing is charged immediately; after that the full monthly fee runs with your costs. Cancel and the remainder comes back pro rata. For food this applies upwards only — a cheaper level takes effect from the next billing.
• Rent and service charges apply from the next billing: after a move you pay the new rent from the next month end — the moving dialog tells you so.
• One-off costs are due immediately: deposit, moving van, furniture, vehicle and property purchases as well as holidays are taken straight from your current account — so the money has to be there.

The housing ladder: from shared room to house

You start in a furnished room in a shared flat — and can move up step by step (or several steps at once if you can afford it). The only condition: the deposit and the moving van must be covered by your current account. No level, no game requirement — money rules.

Step	Home	Rent (warm)	Deposit	Moving van	Comfort	Furniture slots
1	Furnished shared room (start)	€450	—	—	1	0
2	1-room flat, 35 m²	€620	€1,240	€300	2	3
3	2-room flat, 55 m²	€890	€1,780	€450	4	6
4	3-room flat, 80 m²	€1,250	€2,500	€600	6	10
5	House with garden, 130 m²	€1,850	€3,700	€800	8	14

• The shared room has 0 furniture slots — your first move unlocks furnishing.
• Your deposit is not gone: it sits at the bank and comes back in full when you move out (when moving up it is offset against the new one).
• Moving down is allowed. If money gets tight, simply move somewhere smaller. Furniture that no longer fits is sold automatically at 40 % of its purchase price — the moving dialog warns you beforehand exactly which pieces that would be.
• Your furniture moves with you as long as the new home has enough slots.

Buying instead of renting (from the 2-room flat up)

From step 3 you can also buy your home — prices are modelled on real Leverkusen property prices:

Property	Purchase price	Service charges instead of rent
2-room owner-occupied flat	€185,000	€240/month
3-room owner-occupied flat	€265,000	€290/month
House with garden	€475,000	€420/month

• On top of the price you pay 8.5 % purchase costs (NRW property transfer tax 6.5 % plus notary and land register ~2 % — just like in real life). Honest answer: this money is gone. On the 2-room flat, for example, that is €15,725 you will never see again when selling.
• In return you pay no more rent, only the service-charge item — and an owned home gives you one comfort point more than the same flat rented.
• If you move again, your property is automatically sold at the purchase price — you get the full price back, only the purchase costs stay lost.

So buying pays off in the long run (the rent-versus-charges saving eventually recovers the purchase costs) — and above all it is a proper long-term goal for well-running businesses.

Furnishing: buying furniture (honestly calculated)

Every piece of furniture needs a free slot, adds comfort — and some even lower your monthly costs:

Item	Price	Comfort	Side effect
Bed (instead of a mattress)	€450	+1	—
Sofa	€700	+1	—
Smart TV, entry level	€499	+1	required for Netflix — allowed in the shared room too
TV, mid range	€899	+2	replaces the entry model (you only pay the difference)
Top-end TV	€1,499	+3	replaces any smaller TV
Coffee machine	€250	+1	food −€15/month
Washing machine	€550	+1	saves the launderette: −€25/month
Fridge	€700	+1	food −€20/month
Desk	€400	+1	—
Bookshelf	€320	+1	—
Games console	€500	+1	—
Kitchen, simple	€4,000	+2	food −€40/month
Kitchen, premium	€12,000	+3	food −€60/month (replaces the simple one — you only pay the difference)

Let us be honest with the numbers: the coffee machine pays for itself through the food discount after about 17 months, the washing machine after about 22 months — the simple kitchen only after roughly 8 years. You do not buy the big items to save money, you buy them for the comfort — which earns you credit headroom and cheaper market-hall fees (see below).

• You can sell any piece of furniture at any time — at 40 % of its purchase price.
• 🧺 The launderette — and why the washing machine is the first purchase worth making after you move: from your own flat onwards you pay €25 a month for the launderette as long as you have no washing machine of your own (not in the furnished shared room — there it comes with the rent). The machine costs €550 and saves exactly those €25, so it has paid for itself after 22 months and gives you its comfort point on top. Sell it again and the launderette item comes straight back.
• The TV is the one exception in the shared room: you may buy one there even without a furniture slot — otherwise the Netflix subscription would be out of reach. Everything else comes with your first move.
• When you upgrade your TV you only pay the difference, the old set is traded in. It keeps the same slot.
• The food discounts never push your food item below €150/month — you always have to eat something.
• 🧊 The fridge is deliberately its own item and not part of the kitchen: it saves €20/month on food — and its failure is the one you notice fastest.

Food: from very frugal to good

Instead of a fixed food item you now choose how you live:

Level	€/month	Comfort
Very frugal	€200	—
Simple	€300	—
Normal (default)	€500	+1
Good	€700	+2

You are asked once when you first open your private life — with the resulting monthly total next to every level. "Normal" is preselected; you can change it whenever you like.

The furniture discounts (coffee machine, kitchen) apply to the chosen amount — floor €150/month. If you need to save, switch down and you only lose the comfort points of the dearer levels. "Very frugal" carries no comfort penalty — nobody who saves out of necessity should lose credit headroom on top.

Moving up costs immediately, pro rata: switch to a dearer level mid-month and the extra for the days up to the next billing is charged straight away. Moving down applies from the next 28th and is not refunded (otherwise up-and-straight-back-down would create money that never flowed).

Subscriptions: on and off at any time

Subscriptions cost money monthly, add one comfort point each and can be cancelled at any time:

Subscription	€/month	Comfort	Condition
Netflix	€13	+1	television required
Gym	€30	+1	—
Newspaper	€45	+1	—
Music streaming	€12.99	+1	—

How you pay: when you subscribe, the period up to the next billing leaves your current account immediately — subscribe on the 8th with billing on the 28th and that is 20 of 30 days. From the 28th the full monthly fee runs with your cost of living. If you cancel, the rest of the paid period comes back pro rata — so you always pay exactly for the time the subscription was running. Every one of these entries appears in your account history with the name of the subscription.

The basic items of your cost of living remain mandatory as before: electricity €45, phone and internet €35 — and the broadcasting fee of €18.36. That one gives you zero comfort and nothing at all. This is not an oversight, it is the joke: the only expense in the whole game that deliberately gives nothing back. Just like in real life, you still have to pay it.

Car and boat: upkeep and depreciation — honestly

Your garage holds at most one car, and the Rhine berth at most one boat (the berth is included in the upkeep):

Car	Purchase price	Upkeep/month	Comfort
Small car, used	€9,500	€130	+1
Compact, new	€32,000	€220	+2
Sports car	€85,000	€380	+3

Boat	Purchase price	Berth+upkeep/month	Comfort
Inflatable with motor	€4,900	€45	+1
Sports boat 5 m	€24,000	€160	+2
Cabin boat 8 m	€68,000	€320	+3

Honest answer — a vehicle is an expense, not an investment:

• The upkeep (insurance, tax, fuel, maintenance — for the boat including the berth) runs every month, whether you play or not.
• On top comes depreciation: a car loses 1.5 % of its purchase price per month (down to a floor of 30 %), a boat 1 % per month (floor 40 %). You can sell at any time — but always only at the current market value.
• When upgrading to a better model, the dialog takes your old vehicle in part-exchange at its current value — you only pay the difference.

Holidays: recovery, postcards — and your account is protected

A holiday is an experience purchase — paid immediately, with a threefold effect:

Trip	Price	Days
Camping weekend	€250	3
City trip	€600	4
Beach week in Mallorca	€950	7
Long-haul trip	€3,400	14

• Inactivity protection — the most important effect: for the booked holiday days your account counts as active. The bank's seizure and deletion clock (see the "Bank & current account" guide) stands still during that time. So if you go away for two weeks in real life, book a long-haul trip beforehand — then nothing whatsoever happens to your account. You can book up to 30 days into the future at most (today's default — what the game shows you is what counts); stockpiling beyond that is not possible.
• "Refreshed": from the moment of booking you get +2 comfort for 30 days — your standard of living rises noticeably while the recovery lasts.
• Postcard: every trip lands as a postcard (picture and date) in the album on your "My life" card — the last 12 are kept.

Everyday life: small costs and real questions

Between the fixed dates, everyday life happens. Two kinds — and the difference matters.

1. Small unavoidable costs — these come by themselves:

What	Amount	Roughly how often
🚆 Train ticket to work	€15	about 1.5 times a month
💇 Hairdresser	€25	about every three months
💊 Pharmacy	€12–28	about every four months

• At most one of them per day, and at most €60 a month in total — everyday life never takes more than that.
• Nothing is caught up. Away for two weeks? You do not come back to twelve train tickets — you did not travel either.
• While you are on holiday the train ticket does not happen. Nobody commutes during that time.

2. Offers — these ask first:

Offer	Costs
🎬 Cinema by the Rhine	€15
🎉 Club night in Opladen	€45
🍽️ Gasthaus Rheinblick	€35
🎁 A birthday present	€30

• None of this is ever charged without asking. It always comes as a question with yes and no — and your balance sits visibly next to it, together with the balance afterwards.
• At most three offers a month, and only ever one at a time. It stands for 48 hours and then lapses by itself — missing one costs nothing.
• Yes works in the red, too. The bank does not stop you: you can see where you stand and you decide. Only what does not even fit into the overdraft is refused — and then wholly, not half.

The shops (Rheinkauf, SPARBLITZ, Frischeck, Opladen farmers market, the kiosk by the station, Sonnenfeld bakery) are made up and never change the price — they only give your statement a face.

When something breaks

In life, things break. It affects every device and piece of furniture that has something to fail: bed, sofa, TV, coffee machine, washing machine, fridge, games console, kitchen — plus car and boat as a major breakdown. The desk and the bookshelf never break; there is nothing in them that could.

• Unpredictable, but with a stated order of magnitude: the older a device, the more likely it fails. The dice are rolled once per device and month end, and at most one thing breaks per calendar month. There is no countdown and no "lasts another three months" display. Target for a fully furnished home: about two breakdowns a year.
• A repair costs 30 % of the original price, at most €400. The cap matters: 30 % of a €12,000 kitchen would be €3,600 — nobody repairs for that in real life.
• Two repairs, then that is it. After that the item counts as beyond repair and only a full-price replacement helps. And a repair does not make a device new, only about 40 % younger — so the next time comes sooner.
• Car and boat work differently: a major breakdown (engine, gearbox) costs 8 % of the market value, at least €150. The running upkeep continues, whether the vehicle moves or not — insurance, tax and the berth cost money anyway. That is exactly what makes "repair or get rid of it" a real decision.

You never have to repair anything. This too is only ever a question with yes and no. Say no and you live without it — and you notice it in exactly these places:

Broken	What it costs you
🧺 Washing machine	the launderette is back at once: €25/month
🧊 Fridge · ☕ coffee machine · 🍳 kitchen	their food discount is gone
📺 Television	Netflix pauses — but then it costs nothing either
🛏️ Bed · 🛋️ sofa · 🎮 console	their comfort point is gone

⚠️ Broken things are only scrap when sold: instead of the usual 40 % you get 10 % of the purchase price — when selling, when moving to a smaller home and when the bank collects. So think twice before selling an expensive item in that state.

Comfort: what it actually does

Your comfort is the sum of your home (ownership +1), furniture, subscriptions, "good" food, car, boat and the "refreshed" bonus. It is always calculated live from what you own. And this is what it does today:

• Bigger credit limit: every comfort point raises your credit-score limit by €25, up to +€2,000 in total — the first point (the shared room everyone starts in) does not count, and this comes in addition to the playtime ladder. The bank shows this share separately in the credit-score text ("standard of living: +€X").
• Cheaper market hall: the seller fee drops from 5 % to 4 % at comfort 8, and to 3 % at comfort 15. The market hall shows you your rate.
• The games themselves follow later: the plan is for high comfort to become noticeable inside the seven businesses too (shorter build times, for example) — that comes in a later package and does not apply yet.

What comfort never does: create money. There is no cash bonus, no extra income, no interest advantage on your balance — comfort makes your life more comfortable, not your account fuller.

Your standard of living: the five levels

Your comfort points translate into a standard-of-living level:

Comfort	Level
0–2	Beginner
3–5	Settled in
6–9	Nicely furnished
10–14	Upscale lifestyle
15+	The sweet life

The "My life" card shows your level, your points, a progress bar and always one concrete next goal — the cheapest step you are still missing.

The iron rules

• None of this is mandatory. The furnished shared room carries the entire game — you can play all seven businesses to the endgame without ever moving or buying a single piece of furniture. Private life is a reward and a long-term goal, not a tax.
• Comfort never gives money. Only less friction: more credit headroom, smaller fees. If you only want to run your businesses, you lose nothing by skipping it.
• Every expense gives you something back — comfort, discounts, protection or resale value. The one deliberate exception is the broadcasting fee: it gives you nothing, and that is exactly the joke.
• Moving down is always allowed — live smaller, cancel subscriptions, sell the vehicle, eat simpler. If money gets tight, scale your life down a size and get back on your feet.
• And honestly, the unpleasant side: the mandatory items come even when there is nothing there. If your current account does not cover them, the bank takes the rest from the business holding the most money; if that is not enough either, you go into the red and pay overdraft interest. From −€1,000 the seven business games stay closed until you are back above that line. How exactly that works is in the 💳 Bank & current account guide. Nobody stops you from going to the cinema while in the red — you should just be able to see where you stand.